This journey has been long and arduous. I've been to hell and back, uphill both ways. It's been the best of times and the worst of times, the time of plagiarized Charles Dickens quotes and of gentle sobbing shrieks of agony.

It began in the winter of '43. The great war was in full swing. The ol' furher had decided it was a good idea to take a shot at the Ruskies. Never saw the point of that plan personally, but they say he was pretty much mad by then. Reports among the troops rumored that he had a new general executed every day, Darth Vader style. Honestly, I think it was the Star Wars references that kept us going that winter. The only reason we even had the willpower to burn down our barns and crops and starve the Nazis all the way to Moscograd was because of the constant Hoth jokes. Many a soldier had his willpower stirred by his loyal comrade spitting out a couple "pew pew pew" sound effects, maybe purposely missing some shots, throwing in the occasional Wilhelm scream.

But that's not the order of business. We're here to talk about how I collected my IS-3 Defender. The war was in full swing, as I already mentioned. The Russian troops were rolling eastward, leaving a desolate trail of nothing for the Germans to try to survive. They were pretty weak once they got to Petrograd, or St. Petersburg, as many would know it. My good comrade Joseph and I were looking for a place to stay the night, as reports suggested that the enemy would be arriving later the next day. I honestly don't remember how I ended up in the tank, I just remember vodka and a card game. But the next thing I knew, I woke up in one of those IS-3 tanks.

Actually, all of this was made up. I'm just doing the missions as they come, and clenching my buns hoping there's a tank or two left when i'm finished. What, you really thought we made Star Wars references in the Russian army in WWII? Nah, bro. We were all star trek fans back then. Everyone hated George Lucas.

How did I get it? I played battles like I normally do to grind my way there. Some games were great, some were not; it was the usual Blitz experience for the most part.

Finally, last Saturday night the grind was done and I was so exhausted from all the battles played, I decided it best to rest up before taking a roll out in my lovely new Defender. I fell into a dazed sleep full of dreams of epic carry wins in the Defender.

Then I woke up, physically. First game a win! At least I have that temporary bright moment to remember, because it was not to last. Things quickly took a turn for the worse. Loss followed by loss, usually I was dealing top damage for losing team, or I was getting wolfpack rolled right from the start of a match while the rest of my team flocked as fast as they could to the lowest ground on the map, preferably the areas devoid of cover or any strategic value, where the reds could attack them like shooting fish in a barrel. Didn't matter if I was platooned or solo - I was a man marked for defeat every time I ambitiously tried to play my new prize. At this point, one could say there was a different awakening that took place in my subconscious. After so many proverbial slaps in the face, I decided to try a new and different game altogether, enlisting in a different army that might assign me to a team with players more competent than the Blitz algorithms decided was appropriate to repeatedly match me with. Blitz is a volunteer army after all, so I was free to walk away when I was not pleased with the way things were managed. And that is exactly what I did.

The bitterness of so many early game losses in this tank, due to horrible green teams, has been enough to turn me off this game for who knows how long. I was not burned out on the grind, but I am sick of the track record I have in the Defender that it has completely turned me off of playing Blitz.

It is a good tank, but it was not worth any of my efforts to obtain it in hindsight. Technically it cost me no money, but the cost for me was in interest which is now lost.

Update 3/14 - the tank got a bit better with regard to win rate for me. But it is still unpredictable if the gun will actually pen another IS-3 Defender and to any damage. I faced off against another IS-3 Defender yesterday. All his shots on me penned. Mine against him all bounced, APCR as well as HEAT (aimed in, proper angle, and the cursed things just didn't do anything but bounce).